What’s Unique About AOC — It’s Not What You Think
It’s unfair to say Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has unhinged Republicans, both among the base and in elected office — many of them have been unhinged for years. But her mere existence has evinced in them the kind of existential horror that accompanied the Black Death. The principal signs of the infection are sneering and incoherent babbling.
Most notable about her election for me was that she ended something I used to point out about Congress: You never saw anyone elected from a normal 9-to-5 job, one on the shop floor instead of in an office. Granted, bartending isn’t 9-to-5, but very little is these days. What makes AOC unique in the House, more than her age, gender or ethnicity, is her elevation directly from the gig economy’s working class. She brings a perspective on labor issues unique in Congress.
Plenty of Congressmen get elected from labor unions, but almost always from jobs well removed from the shop floor. Small business people are vastly overrepresented when you consider that most doctors, dentists and lawyers operate as or in small businesses. This all makes perfect sense when you consider how much time and effort is involved in running for Congress. Normal working people can’t afford to take a year off from their job to do it. We typically try to insure minority groups have a seat at the table, and rightly so, but rarely does anyone solicit the perspective of this group that comprises the majority of voters, despite their total absence from representation.
That, I think, much more than the Green New Deal, is what scares Republicans and pro-business Democrats. As far as they’re concerned a fox has been elected to the henhouse — look at how she outed the “orientation” of novice Congresspeople as the indoctrination by banking interests it actually was. It’s like a drawing-room version of “BlacKkKlansman” if you told it from the Klan’s side.
So let the Republicans rage. They are roaches who know a can of Raid when they see one.
Actually, both Republicans and Democrats are afraid that Miss Ocasio-Cortez is the Donald Trump of the Democratic Party.
Like the President, she is brash, bombastic, pugilistic and charismatic. She fights and fights and fights. Trouble is, she fights for the wrong things, like driving Amazon out of its proposed Brooklyn “HQ2”, costing the city 25,000 jobs at an average salary of $150,000. Too bad she’s such an idiot.
If President Trump wins re-election, it’s very possible that Miss Ocasio-Cortez will be the 2024 Democratic presidential nominee.
You are dumb. Pro Tip – Read the whole post, not just the headline.
“That, I think, much more than the Green New Deal, is what scares Republicans and pro-business Democrats.”
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
“If President Trump wins re-election, it’s very possible that Miss Ocasio-Cortez will be the 2024 Democratic presidential nominee.”
Let us hope. Because if Trump wins re-election it will mean that the Dems nominated Hillary Clinton again.
All of a sudden Amazon is a fantastic opportunity? Didn’t Bezos just agree to $15.00 per hour. Did we forget the reports that the psychological working conditions are toxic with workers encouraged to narc each other out? Now Amazon is what? AOC should constrain herself regarding the plight of workers?
The best lie is that they were going to hire Queens residents at an average $150,000 per annum. Hahaha.
They definitely were not going to hire Stanford and Ivy League grads to move to NYC and displace people who’ve lived there for generations because they can’t afford the rent anymore. Amazon would never do this. I mean just ask Seattle…
On second thought. Don’t ask Seattle.
There it is. The idiot trope. Very original.
Also… She’s like Trump. Bernie’s like Trump!
Replete with dumbfucks. This is the stupidest take of the day so far.
You you see the nutso web site he linked to.
Not a huge fan of aoc. Think she’s woefully unprepared a lot and doesn’t do her homework. Although I will admit she impressed me at the cohen hearing.
That said I agree with your premisis that generally normal people can’t run for office. It’s to demanding and a lot of jobs don’t even allow it. This is not even going into the being personally attacked portion (example Coleen davis) That is why it seems to be the Delaware legislature you have to be a retired cop, a real estate agent or worked for a politician before you got in. The county council is a lot of the same. Even worse since I think every single member is over 50 year old and most retired. I respect aoc for running but her story is the exception not the rule. We need to make it a easier for normal citizens to run.
woefully unprepared. Care to cite an example that I’ll turn around and humiliate you with? That’d be dope.
Yea when she talked about spending the 3 million in tax incentives that didn’t exist yet because amazon hadn’t produced them. Even deblasio called her out on that “DOH” moment
It was 3 billion actually and tax incentives are “spending.”
We’ve been over this one already
Want to try again?
I think the notion you have that she “doesnt do her homework” is a narrative that is being fed to you by the likes of people like Joe Crowley and his brand of politician.
The Cohen hearing was literally her having done her homework and had a much greater effect than “experienced” legislators. She looked like a multi term representative…. and she’s been in politics for just over 2 months.
It’s just what people say now. Let me tell you. I’ve met my share of members of Congress. She far above average. If most had the noteriety & attention she has they’d look like drooling apes. Have you ever head Louis Gomert speak?
Any time you hear anyone call AOC an idiot you can be sure that person doesn’t know what the fuck they’re talking about.
I’m not sure Clay Higgins is toilet trained, but AOC is an idiot.
Motherfuckers just parrot what they hear to sound like they’re keeping up. Really, you sound dumb.
Also note it was a ‘doh’ moment because one of the folks who negotiated the deal that we scuttled said so!
Hahaha
This right here is why the aoc people are an unhealthy cult no difirrent from the trump nuckle dragging cult. Anything she says no matter how fucking wrong or stupid you defend. She was factually wrong on the amazon incentives and got fact checked by ever reliable source but here you are spinning it like a brainwashed trump turd.
People like the aoc or trump cults are what’s wrong with this damn country. Not go back to stalking her Instagram, she may put something important up like cooking or her fucking dentists visit.
Idiots…I need a drink
“This right here is why the aoc people are an unhealthy cult no difirrent from the trump nuckle dragging cult. ”
Your inability to see a difference pretty much dismisses you from useful participation here. You are attacking her, not the points she is making. Your tantrums don’t do anything for the conversation. Just sayin’.
Yes, we have been over the Amazon deal. New York would have gained nice jobs; current New Yorkers, or at least those who lived in the area being sacrificed, would not. Government is not, or rather should not be, in the business of “growing the pie” at the expense of the people who would be most affected.
She represents the current residents, not the people that would displace them. In this case, they were running government like a business — if they don’t like it, fuck ’em. They didn’t like being fucked.
Aoc fucked her own constituents. Over 70 percent of minorities in her district wanted it. The white privileged whiny liberals who grew up in private schools didn’t.
She got played and it’s Gona come back to haunt her.
Yeah, she’s really thankful for your concern, troll.
She’s in Congress and you’re literally nobody. Who should I trust? Hard question…
You might want to ask yourself why she upsets you so.
Bunker Mindset.
I think people who lament New York losing Amazon are under the mistaken impression that any actual people would benefit by it. Far from it.
The story of development, anywhere, is the story of higher taxes accompanying it. The only entities that would benefit — and only in the sense of growth, the holy grail of business, not government — are the taxing agencies that would gain revenue from the new jobs. But the accounting for this supposed benefit is never done, for the simple reason that there is no benefit. You end up spending more in services than you get in taxes, especially since you’ve short-sightedly granted exemptions to the employer.
How do I know? Because as New Castle County has developed over my 40 years here, taxes have increased accordingly, as have taxes in all surrounding counties where growth is rampant.
AOC is great. She is attractive and she doesn’t give a shit. And that makes the Republicans nuts.
I couldn’t give a fuck what she looks like, but yeah she got those dumbfucks spinning their wheels.
This scrotesniff DE dude thinks Amazon was going to hire neighborhood folks rather than ship people in.
Tech ruined San Jose, San Fran, Seattle, etc, but these clowns just keep at it
Delawaredude is a moron. That is confirmed.
Moving on…I had a conversation with someone about AOC over the weekend.
“She is too liberal. It is going to hurt the Democrats.”
“She is representing her district. You don’t hear anyone saying ‘Mitch McConnell is too conservative, it’s going to hurt Republicans.”
A bunch of brainwashed sheep we have in this country.
Her constituents didn’t want it and celebrated. You don’t know what that fuck you’re talking about and just making up your own stories.
You don’t like that she represents people so you call it a cult. You’re confused.
“Okay She represents her constituents, but, but, but the 70% tax rate..?!!?”
“You mean the 70% MARGINAL tax rate on incomes over $10 million. DO you make $10 million a year?….well?”
*crickets*
I honestly think most of these trolls and deadbeats and dumbfucks cannot be taught. Conditioned in our little Luxembourg we see tax cheats as heroes. We treat their political enablers like royalty. If someone questions this it’s heresy.
Speaking of unique, If AOC was still a bartender, I would ask her to blend a shot of barrel aged Sierra Nevada Narwhal Imperial Stout in a pint with fresh Sierra Nevada Hazy IPA because I just did it, and it’s better than anything else they have.
Like an IPA black and tan.
Hazy Narwhal®
She seems to scare the right people…..I like that.
^yep^
She is a refreshing change. And like any other “newbie” has lots to learn. One of the more challenging things to learn is how to select and deal with staffers, both her own and those serving on committees. Most people think that politicians do their own work, but it’s all done by staffers (and of course lobbyists). A “guaranteed income…for those unwilling to work” is a rookie error, the type all newbies make, regardless of their age. Her staff can help or hurt her and she needs to keep her house in good order to be able to be effective. I hope she has selected a wise chief of staff.
“A “guaranteed income…for those unwilling to work” is a rookie error,”
Maybe so, but it’s also the inevitable future. There simply aren’t enough jobs to go around, and with increased automation and a growing population, that trend will only increase. We already help out such people with state and federal programs that give them $20,000 or to $30,000 in benefits, plus whatever health care costs Medicaid picks up. But we run them ragged accessing it. Pointless.
There is a difference between willing to work but can’t find a job that pays a living wage and unwilling to work. I’m generally an advocate of making the rightwing work for their talking points, not serving it up to them on a platter, with all the trimmings.
Regardless, you pose a valid argument about the future. When there are machines that can mimic human writing, wither goest journalists? Or bakers or Uber drivers, et al. The world as we know it, is coming to an end. That which we once did to earn, learn, and affirm our self worth, will no longer be possible. Sure there may be some degree of manual labor (lettuce pickers) but even those jobs can be done far more productively with the right machines. So the future is extreme productivity, lowered production costs, and large corporate profits – except…without income no one can purchase those products. And if corporations necessarily become the ultimate source of the revenue that gets funneled into individual guaranteed income, what incentive do they have to produce anything anyway? Part of our self worth are the endeavors we pursue to create, grow, build, and sustain, in short, to produce something of value for ourselves and humanity. If the bulk of humanity no longer has a purpose, then what’s the point of living? You cannot sustain a civilization where the majority of the people either cannot or are unwilling to work. There is truth to the adage that idle hands are the devils workshop.
Of course, there is always blogging and if someone else is putting food on the table you don’t have to a good blogger.
“There is a difference between willing to work but can’t find a job that pays a living wage and unwilling to work.”
Not from an economic standpoint.
“I’m generally an advocate of making the rightwing work for their talking points, not serving it up to them on a platter, with all the trimmings.”
I used to be that way, until I realized that they will just make them up if you don’t say them, so speak the truth. Everyone makes mistakes, and if the one mistake is all it takes to turn you against her, guess what? You were already against her. You wish she hadn’t made the mistake? Yeah, I was always frustrated when Steve Carlton threw another 1-hitter. He never threw a no-no. It had no effect on his greatness.
“When there are machines that can mimic human writing, wither goest journalists? ”
Such programs already exist. Feed a set of facts and the program spits out a city council story, or a high school sports story. For now, the eradication of journalists is simply a function of the economics that says a newspaper can only exist at a fairly high profit margin, though if it ever makes a comeback it will be more automated than now.
“That which we once did to earn, learn, and affirm our self worth, will no longer be possible. ”
I learn all the time, and I’m retired. Hitching your self-worth to your job is the bane of modern society. And if you’re guaranteed an income you can spend without earning.
“So the future is extreme productivity, lowered production costs, and large corporate profits – except…without income no one can purchase those products.”
It’s only extreme productivity if you measure it in terms of output per man-hour. Current tax code incentivizes investment in machinery over labor by giving tax credits for depreciation of the former but not the latter, so there’s an easy if temporary fix if you really insist on making more people work to keep them out of trouble.
As I noted, we already give people more than $20,000 per annum in aid regardless of their will to work. Every penny of this is recirculated through the economy. In short, we already do this, just inefficiently.
As for forcing them to work, is that who you want to hire? Me neither. I fail to see the downside of getting the lazy and unmotivated out of the job market.
“Part of our self worth are the endeavors we pursue to create, grow, build, and sustain, in short, to produce something of value for ourselves and humanity.”
Who says you need a job to do all that? You can create anything you want — more, if you don’t have to waste time doing work for somebody else.
“If the bulk of humanity no longer has a purpose, then what’s the point of living?”
First of all, you mean the illusion of purpose. There is no purpose to living. Biologically, the purpose of living is to create more life that will create more life that will create more life, on into infinity or extinction.
What you’re saying fits perfectly with a piece in the Atlantic about how in our post-religious world work has replaced religion as the tentpole for self-identity.
“Of course, there is always blogging and if someone else is putting food on the table you don’t have to a good blogger.”
Or you can live on retirement income, which is sort of the same principle as a guaranteed basic income. As you’re well aware, once the home is paid for the rest is pretty easy.
And don’t be too flip. Once daily newspapers finish collapsing, with radio close behind, bloggers are going to be all that’s left to pick up the slack.
Every person has a will to meaning. People constantly strive for something meaningful in their lives, whether it’s being the best parent they can be or to free solo El Cap. We may be biologically driven to perpetuate ourselves, but we are always asking “to what end.” I’m sorta retired and I have meaning. For some of that meaning I get paid dollars, for other parts I get psychic income.
But intellectual pursuit and meaning aside, most people want a reason to get out bed in the morning and there is plenty of research that indicates retired people are active live longer.
Still your point is taken that removing the unwilling from the work force is not a bad thing except that because they are unwilling, they removed themselves some time ago. Yet, I believe that nearly every one has a raison d’être. The difficulty lies in knowing what it is.
So I don’t want to force people to work per se but everyone has something to contribute and that’s one of the definitions for civilization and a society – common effort for the common good.
This is an excellent point. There is a general theme that runs through all these critiques of these new leftist leaders.
It’s basically “Well that’s not how we do it. So-and-so doesn’t understand how it’s done. Such-and-such hasn’t studied how we do it.”
Ah, actually, yes, we know exactly how we do it. The way we do it is oppressive and stupid and unfair. So we’re going to change the way we do it.
People seem genuinely confused by this.
Our system if fundamentally broken and bad. Folks, you’re going to be hearing things that confuse you and you don’t understand. This is the point.
Nice back-and-forth, Dave and Alby.
It’s fantastic that you are getting ideas from this article as well as from our dialogue
made here.
Bot! Very legal. Very cool.
I quite like looking through a post that can make people
think. Also, thank you for allowing for me to comment!
I miei connazionali hanno effettuato l’accesso.
Boungiorno!
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